3918040698 | | Chapter 1 | The Tower Bazaar was beginning to wake with activity as Eido sighed and placed her datapad on the table in front of Crow's Ghost.
"Glint, this research on the Hall Between has me thinking about… stories. The ones that evoke fear. The 'scary' ones, as you'… |
3918040697 | | Chapter 2 | The room Eris had stuck Immaru in was minuscule. There were no windows to watch the hours and days pass by. No electronics to hack. Just containers of decommissioned armor stacked against the far wall, and one small, empty crate in the middle of the room,… |
3918040696 | | Chapter 3 | After a few arduous attempts and one superbly acted sob story told to an incredibly gullible Ghost, Immaru eventually sauntered off in a new Constricting Shell. In his latest disguise, he skulked through halls and hangars and workshops, scanning everything… |
3918040703 | | Chapter 4 | "I called dibs on that candy. Don't make me say it again."
Immaru turned to see another Ghost as she made a beeline for the candy on the ground beneath him.
"You—what are you wearing? You dipped your shell in… Human food?!" Immaru spat.
The other Ghost… |
3918040702 | | Chapter 5 | The toffee-covered Ghost transmatted away the second she heard Glint's voice. Unfazed, Glint approached the snake-covered Ghost, determined to meet a new friend.
"Hello, stranger! Are you enjoying the festival?" Glint asked.
"Get lost," Immaru snarled, a… |
3918040701 | | Chapter 6 | Eido sat in the Tower's Bazaar beneath the afternoon sun, comfortably situated at a table with a full pot of tea. She gazed intently into her cup, her research and data spread out around her.
"Eido! Immaru is going to—Eido? Why are you… staring at your te… |
3918040700 | | Chapter 7 | "Forget the tea," Glint said. "I've got something better!"
He transmatted a set of objects onto the table, and Eido gasped, her heartbeat quickening. "The Deck of Whispers? You stole Eris's cards?!"
"Borrowed," he corrected, twirling around the table to… |
3918040691 | | Chapter 8 | The colors of dusk were already painted in the sky beyond the Last City by the time Glint approached Crow, stationed on the outskirts of the Tower.
"Crow! You'll never believe what happened today! Eido and I were talking. I mean, we talk a lot. But today… |
3918040690 | | Chapter 9 | Immaru materialized again in the corner of the Courtyard, not far from the bust of Cayde-6.
He continued his studies, watching Guardians obediently crowd around a Human with… more candy. Lots of candy, in fact. Her laughter pealed like mesmerizing bells a… |
3901262984 | | Chapter 10 | Ana Bray passed through the Courtyard, her mechanical dog at her heels. "Happy Festival of the Lost, Eva!"
"Oh, Ana dear!" Eva called back and held out a small package. "I thought Archie deserved to celebrate the festival in style with his own costume thi… |
3901262985 | | Chapter 11 | Immaru eventually found Archie again, sleeping and curled on a blanket in the Annex. The Ghost approximated the guttural sound of clearing one's throat, and the dog opened one eye.
"You know, after the whole… chicken… thing, I saw what you did up there. T… |
3901262986 | | Chapter 12 | How nervous—how terrified—had I been when they told me he was here—fragmented remains, nothing more. Even still, I nearly thought the knowledge—telling no one, no where—would drive me completely mad. But I could be trusted, they said. I could handle it, th… |
3901262987 | | Chapter 13 | It wasn't hard for Immaru to find candy to steal, and it was even easier for Archie to find marks willing to hand it over, for him to transmat it into his stomach cavity. The complicated part, they quickly discovered, was what to do with it after.
Immaru… |
3901262988 | | Chapter 14 | I was a scholar once. Of vast renown among those beyond influence of the Great Machine. Here, I told my House. See the truth and speak it with me. They refused, and so I left, unable to consume the bile of their belief.
The wind was bitter, no hollowhot t… |
3901262989 | | Chapter 15 | The bar of The Ether Tank was packed with the City's patrons, Eliksni or otherwise. The forlorn drinkers. The karaoke enthusiasts. The social gamblers. Spider casually listened to the fervor as he scrolled through figures on his datapad, calculating his fo… |
3901262990 | | Chapter 16 | "It's the cutest cloak, Elsie. You have to see it," Ana gushed over her earpiece as she tinkered in her workshop. Her computer suddenly flashed with a notification, and she frowned.
"You could dress that dog in a paper bag, and he'd still be inconceivably… |
3901262991 | | Chapter 17 | Immaru was analyzing their take for the day when Spider called.
"You think I'm stupid?" Spider grumbled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Immaru said cooly.
"The numbers don't add up. The load assessed from your canine is not what my lackeys a… |
3901262976 | | Chapter 18 | "Hey!" Immaru called out. The walls inside the Derelict creaked and groaned in response, shuttering as if the cobbled halls would suddenly rip apart.
He was alone.
Immaru wandered through the ship until he stumbled on shelves of containment glass that l… |
3901262977 | | Chapter 19 | Back in the Last City, Immaru and Archie reviewed their data of the Headless Ones from a computer terminal.
"I think this is everything. Drifter was a no go," Immaru said. Archie whined in response.
"I don't wanna talk about it. He—he didn't have anythin… |
3951595841 | | Chapter 20 | "What do you think?" Eido asked hopefully as Mithrax placed her datapad on the table in front of him.
"They are… good," he finally admitted.
"Really?" she exclaimed.
He nodded. "Especially the 'Tragical Scribe.' To sacrifice one's freedom for boundless… |
3951595840 | | Chapter 21 | Nightfall was never quite as dark when the Last City celebrated the Festival of the Lost. Lanterns cast a pastel mosaic over the people; glowing candles illuminated their offerings for the dead.
A lone Hunter wandered among the memorials and stopped to lo… |
3951595843 | | Chapter 22 | The memorials left at Amanda's workshop were many. Too many for Zavala to count. He moved them aside, assessing the damage left by Colonel's rampage through the Tower from earlier that day.
"So many feathers," he mused. He pulled back a canvas covering Am… |
3951595842 | | Chapter 23 | In the depths of the Tower, Immaru cobbled together a prototype torso for his monster with patchwork remnants of deceased Headless Ones, fragments of pumpkin stolen while tagging along with the Guardian. Missing sections were filled in: the left arm of a d… |
3951595845 | | Chapter 24 | When Eido found Ikora, she was meditating beneath a jacaranda tree, away from the noise of the Bazaar.
"Is there something you need?" Ikora asked, amusement apparent in her voice, her eyes still closed.
"I'm sorry to disturb you," Eido said.
"Not at all… |
3951595844 | | Chapter 25 | Immaru and Archie nervously stared at their second assembled prototype on the table.
The tech knitted through the salvaged organic components had been upgraded: a Cabal sword replaced its right hand. Splicer wiring wove through its left arm. Vex milk cour… |
3951595847 | | Chapter 26 | The Headless One quickly made its way to the Bazaar. Vendors scattered. People grabbed hatchlings and children, running in every which direction.
Glint and Eido watched in horror as the Headless One lashed out and shoved a rotisserie over, quickly catchin… |
3951595846 | | Chapter 27 | "A Headless One?!" Eido and Glint exclaimed in unison as Archie raced up beside them.
"We need help. I'll go find Crow!" Glint said.
"There's no time. The longer we wait, the more dangerous this monster becomes, and someone could be killed. We have to st… |
3951595849 | | Chapter 28 | Eido raced to a nearby vendor table of Eliksni baked goods and swiped the biggest loaf she could find. Her four hands worked furiously, tearing off chunks of bread and wrapping them in candy wrappers, and she suddenly realized she was very glad to be Eliks… |
3951595848 | | Chapter 29 | The remains of the festival stands laid in a heap, everything and everyone covered in a layer of rancid, foamy pumpkin ooze.
Immaru drifted by, almost dancing through the air as he surveyed the destruction. "Did you see that? It was like a giant, foamy SC… |
3934818286 | | Chapter 30 | "What a mess," Eido said. "The destruction of the Bazaar's festival space is disheartening. The substance created in the explosion is, well, much stickier than we calculated."
"Not to mention the smell," Zavala said, covering his nose. "This is… unbearabl… |
3934818287 | | Chapter 31 | Deep in the bowels of one of Spider's warehouses, he gripped the neck of a warehouse worker. "So tell me something. When the rule 'no stealing' was explained to you, which part did you not understand?"
The worker struggled against Spider's grip. "I—I didn… |
3934818284 | | Chapter 32 | As Crow and Zavala made their way through the Eliksni Quarter, they passed a cluster of young Eliksni gathered around a mechanical dog. One hatchling ran forward and stopped short in front of Zavala, her four arms full of candy. She looked up at him and ch… |
3934818285 | | Epilogue | The amazing stories you have just experienced are now a part of Eliksni record. You may not believe any of them to be true, but if you do, know that you are in good company with those who have lived to tell these tales.
The universe is an enigma, wild an… |
413901114 | | Acosmic | The noise of the Bazaar was a background hum, the seemingly electric energy pulsating all around Sloane as she wandered among the Festival of the Lost vendors. A Human sold delicate pottery beside Eliksni weavers showcasing their intricate fabrics. There w… |